00:00- Can a society make you depressed?
00:02South Korea is an incredible
country with a vibrant culture.
00:05In just a few short decades,
00:06they've come to lead the world in science,
00:09technology, education, TV
and film, music and sports.
00:14Yet they also have incredibly high rates
00:16of anxiety, depression, alcoholism
00:19and they lead the world in suicide.
00:21I've come to Korea to find out why.
00:24what is arguably the
worst mental health crisis
00:26of the 21st century?
00:28We're gonna discover
00:29how intense social
pressures can lead people
00:32to anxiety and depression.
00:33We're gonna understand how
the unique intersection
00:36of culture, history, and
technology is driving many
00:40of the psychological problems in Korea.
00:42Now, along the way, we're
gonna meet dozens of Koreans,
00:44gonna play some video
games, eat some barbecue,
00:46hang out with some TV celebrities,
00:48and I'm going to eat the
spiciest fuckin' thing
00:50I have ever put in my mouth.
00:52I'm gonna cry, I'm crying.
01:00To understand Korea's mental
health crisis, we need
01:04to start in a strange place
with a popular video game
01:07from the nineties called StarCraft.
01:12StarCraft in Korea was a phenomenon.
01:15A video game so popular in
the country that stadiums
01:18and arenas were filled with spectators.
01:20Top players became celebrities
and won millions of dollars.
01:24But this raises the
question, why StarCraft?
01:28And why only in Korea?
01:30To find out, I met up
01:31with Pro StarCraft commentator Nick Plott,
01:34who happened to be an American
01:35who's lived in Korea for 15 years.
01:38- In the late eighties and early nineties,
01:41there was a cultural ban
here on Japanese products.
01:44So no manga, no Nintendo, no PlayStation.
01:47I'm sure for you growing up, right,
01:48you had a Nintendo?
- Yeah.
01:49- You played, you know, Final Fantasy,
01:51all these other cultural Japanese things.
01:52Here it wasn't happening.
01:54the Korean government was
subsidizing the internet,
01:56so PC cafes were extremely affordable.
01:59Anywhere you are in Korea,
02:00there's probably a PC cafe
like five, 10 minutes away.
02:03So, with all these
Koreans playing PC games
02:06and no consoles here, and
because of like, you know,
02:09I guess the beauty and the
competitive nature of StarCraft,
02:12it really caught on.
02:13It was like a craze here.
02:14They put StarCraft tournaments on TV,
02:16and it became one of the biggest things.
02:18People became obsessed, to the point
02:19where there were then about
two or three TV stations
02:22that had 24 hour StarCraft contests.
02:25- [Mark] Koreans were,
02:26and still are probably 20 years ahead,
02:29in what has since become known as eSports.
02:32Their dominance of StarCraft
continues in tournaments
02:34to this day, but it wouldn't stop there.
02:37Koreans would go on to
dominate every video game
02:40that became popular within the country,
02:42including League of Legends, Overwatch,
02:44Heroes of the Storm and Street Fighter V.
02:49And what's crazy is we'll see
02:51that the same factors and formula
02:53that allowed Korea to dominate eSports is
02:56what would eventually lead them
02:58to dominate pop culture around the world.
03:01- When I moved out here, one of the things
03:03that surprised me was the work ethic.
03:04People really work hard.
03:06They almost overwork themselves,
03:08and they don't make excuses.
03:10Like culturally as an
American, I don't know.
03:11I was just used to
people, "I can't do this,"
03:14or, "I've got ADD."
- Yeah.
03:15- It just isn't as much
of a thing out here.
03:17You're supposed to kind of
grind your way to success.
03:20They were the first place where they had
03:22what you'd call like a pro team house.
03:23So you'd have an apartment in
one of the suburbs of Seoul
03:26where there's like 15
to 16 players, you know,
03:29bedrooms with bunk beds
stacked on top of each other,
03:31and then the living room looks similar
03:33to like a PC cafe basically,
03:34and so they created
environments for training.
03:37When you get these little ecosystems
03:39where all these people
are sharing these secrets
03:41and driving each other
and pushing each other
03:42to get better and better,
03:43that's when you really saw Koreans start
03:45to just completely dominate.
03:47- [Mark] But what's remarkable
about the StarCraft story is
03:50that Koreans have taken the
same formula for success
03:53and replicated it across
multiple industries.
03:56K-pop stars are auditioned and
recruited as young children
04:00and sent to live at boarding schools.
04:02Korean athletes do the same.
04:04Even Samsung owns networks of dormitories,
04:07transportation systems and hospitals,
04:10so that employees quite literally
never have to leave work.
04:14This formula of forcing people
04:16to go all in on what they're good at,
04:18and then applying intense
social pressure, competition
04:22and scrutiny to squeeze
as much excellence out
04:24of them as possible, has proven effective.
04:27But at the same time, I
couldn't help but think
04:30of the psychological
fallout it was creating.
04:33(musical hum and heart beat)
04:37To get a better understanding
04:38of how these pressures
affect everyday Koreans,
04:42I sat down with Korean psychologist
04:44and author Lee Seohyun,
04:46There's a lot of pressure
in the education?
04:47- Hmm, not only education.
04:49All the Korean society is
very, very competitive,
04:52so there are a lot of
perfectionist in Korea.
04:56If you don't get 100 point, then you fail.
05:03And I think it's really
connecting to depression.
05:06- Like you have always
the feeling of failure.
05:09- So this intensity of, if
it's not a hundred, it's zero.
05:13Where do you think that started?
05:15- Really fast economic growth
in Korea after the war.
05:20Only the strongest survived.
05:25- To understand Korea's perfectionism,
05:27we must first understand Korea's history,
05:30specifically the conflict
with North Korea.
05:34See the economic miracle of
South Korea in the 20th century,
05:37it wasn't a question of
ambition or even choice.
05:41It was a question of survival.
05:44Korea spent most of the early 20th century
05:47under a brutal occupation
by the Japanese Empire.
05:50Then after being liberated
in World War II the peninsula
05:54became the first ideological
flashpoint of the Cold War.
05:58The Soviets and Chinese supported
communist revolutionaries
06:01in the North who then
launched a surprise invasion
06:06The Korean War would claim
more than 3 million lives
06:09or a full 15% of the country's population.
06:13The war would end in a stalemate,
06:15and Korea would be partitioned
into two countries,
06:18communist North Korea and
capitalist South Korea.
06:21Both countries had been
decimated and impoverished,
06:25yet the threat of another
invasion always loomed.
06:28South Korea had no choice
06:30but to develop as quickly as possible.
06:33To build the country
economically the government had
06:35to institute an absolutely
brutal educational system.
06:39The result of this was just
an insane amount of pressure
06:43and expectation put on young Koreans.
06:47What age does this start at,
this pressure to perform?
06:51- Six, seven.
- Six?
06:52- Yes.
- Korean six year olds are,
06:55there's pressure to study?
- Yes.
06:56- And get a hundred on every exam?
06:58- Even younger, English kindergarten.
07:00- Yeah.
- The competition start there.
07:03And you go to elementary school,
07:06you have to perform well
to get a great university.
07:10- Yeah.
- And it's the reality.
07:13- So you start preparing-
- Yes.
07:15- For university in elementary school?
07:18- That sounds awful.
(both laugh)
07:20Sorry.
- Yes, it's awful.
07:23- It's like that, what about play?
07:26- What's that?
(both laugh)
07:29I'm Korean.
(both laugh)
07:31- In cognitive behavioral therapy,
07:33there are things known
as cognitive distortions.
07:35Cognitive distortions
are basically false ways
07:38of viewing the world and our lives
07:40and research has consistently shown
07:41that these cognitive distortions lead us
07:43to greater amounts of
anxiety and depression.
07:46One of the most common
cognitive distortions is known
07:49as all or nothing thinking.
07:51It's the assumption that
if something isn't amazing,
07:53then it must be terrible.
07:55If someone isn't smart,
then they must be stupid.
07:58If a company or organization
isn't saving the world,
08:01then they must be ruining it.
08:02Korea's education systems seems
08:04to have instituted all or nothing thinking
08:06into its assessment of young Koreans
08:09and then encouraged them to do the same.
08:11Obviously, from a mental
health perspective,
08:13this can't be a good thing.
08:24Despite being stressed and overworked,
08:26Koreans somehow carry on
08:28with a kind of serenity and acceptance.
08:31I was in this cat cafe at like
10:00 PM on a Monday night,
08:34and the owner seemed more
than happy to serve me
08:36and the other patrons,
08:38even though they had been open all day.
08:43They're so unimpressed with me.
08:45"Hi there, little guy."
08:47Dude, these cats are a little jaded.
08:50I expected like a king's entrance,
08:51the cats to congregate around me.
08:59(somber strings music)
09:02Oh, look at this little rat.
09:04Oh my God, he's tubby.
09:06Oh, don't, oh oh, oh oh.
09:11"Hey, that's my camera.
09:12This is my YouTube channel.
09:13You gotta at least like promote my channel
09:15and say, "like and subscribe."
09:19As I spent time in Korea, I began
09:21to see this insane work ethic everywhere.
09:24I've done media interviews
in probably a dozen countries
09:28Everywhere I've gone, every
journalist I've spoken to,
09:31there's this kind of
unspoken understanding
09:33that they've got me for like 30 minutes,
09:36maybe an hour at most.
09:37Yet, in Korea, every single
media interview I did,
09:41lasted for multiple hours.
09:43One of them lasted an
entire Sunday afternoon,
09:46and from what I could tell,
09:47this seems completely normal to them.
09:49Probably the funniest
example of this happened
09:51when I went onto the show
called Yang Brothers.
09:54They're two Korean
celebrity psychiatrists.
09:56I guess they're kind
of like the Doctor Phil
09:58of Korean TV or something.
10:00In my head, I'm gonna be
there for like 20 minutes,
10:02as television tends to be pretty quick.
10:04So I told my publicist
10:05to book it on the first
night I was in Korea,
10:08but after a multi-hour long interview,
10:10the jet lag kicked in and
things started to get weird.
10:15(Yang Jae Jin speaks Korean)
10:25(Yang Jae Woong laughs)
10:28(Yang Jae Jin speaks Korean)
10:33- Okay.
(everyone laughs)
10:35I'm glad I changed their mind.
10:37(Yang Jae Jin speaks Korean)
10:39(Yang Jae Woong speaks Korean)
10:39(Yang Jae Jin speaks Korean)
10:47Now, despite being absolutely
delirious during the shoot,
10:50the Yang Brothers dug up some
really interesting research
10:53about the cultural differences
10:55between young Koreans and young Americans.
10:57When asked what was most
important to have a happy life,
11:01Americans answered first,
physical and mental health,
11:04relationship second and
financial security third.
11:07But Koreans answered
financial security first,
11:10physical and mental health
second, and relationships third.
11:13We had an interesting
discussion about why that is.
11:17(Yang Jae Woong speaks Korean)
11:54The Yang Brothers taught me something
11:57that I wasn't aware of.
11:58Unfortunately, there are some
real systemic consequences
12:02of Korea's breakneck pace
12:03of development in the 20th century.
12:06This has not only led to
alarming rates of suicide
12:09among elderly people,
12:10but it scared the shit out
of the younger generation.
12:13With intense financial inequality
12:15making it almost impossible
to start a family
12:17or buy a home, the
younger Korean generations
12:20are left feeling a little bit cheated.
12:22- I think there is generation
difference in Korea.
12:27We are taught do well,
and then you get success.
12:32- But reality is we do
really well, really hard,
12:36and we got nothing much.
12:38- [Mark] This was the other contradiction
12:40you see across Seoul.
12:41Everyone seems so
financially stressed out,
12:44yet the culture also has
a lot of materialism.
12:48Korea's known as having
the top beauty products
12:52Seoul is sometimes
called the world capital
12:56But walk around and you can tell,
12:58like all shiny, sexy things.
13:00It's a veneer, a thin disguise
for what's underneath.
13:06You'll have luxury brand
stores, five star hotels
13:09and upscale restaurants on one block,
13:11but then a few blocks
away, you'll be confronted
13:13with open air markets, street vendors,
13:16and mom and pop shop selling, well,
13:18I don't know what the fuck that is.
13:21I had to do an ad read while I was there,
13:23so I asked my Korean friend, Juwan,
13:25to buy me the spiciest food
in Korea while I did it.
13:28- [Juwan] This one right here,
13:30- [Mark] What, what is this?
13:31What am I about to eat?
13:32- This is Spicy Tteokbokki,
13:33and that means spicy rice cakes,
13:36and this is called "Nasty" Tteokbokki
13:39because of how spicy it's gonna be.
13:42- So this video is sponsored by Brilliant,
13:44and I figured what better
way to do the ad read than
13:47while eating the spiciest food in Korea.
13:52Check out Brilliant.
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13:58Dude, my heart is like-
14:01- I'm gonna be honest, I've tried a lot
14:03of online learning
platforms over the years,
14:04and Brilliant is probably the
best that I've ever tried.
14:08See for my work, I have to read a lot
14:10of psychological research,
14:13and if you know anything
about psychological research,
14:15you know that most of it is fuckin' trash.
14:20One of the issues that I've
had throughout my career is
14:22that I don't have the
statistical knowledge
14:24to figure out what's bullshit
and what's actually good data,
14:27but Brilliant has helped me
14:28up my statistical knowledge immensely.
14:31I'm gonna cry, I'm crying.
14:33The platform is awesome,
the courses are animated.
14:36They have fun puzzles and problem sets,
14:39and the whole platform is gamified,
14:40so you can track your progress
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14:45If you're pursuing a, fuck-
14:48If you're pursuing a career
in software or data science,
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14:54See what I did there?
14:55Yeah, it fucking hurts to talk.
14:58- Go to brilliant.org/markmanson,
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15:05I'm fuckin' done.
(upbeat music)
15:19All right, let's talk about
depression for a few minutes.
15:22What can cause depression?
15:24Well, a lot of things.
15:25First, there's your physical health.
15:28Are you getting enough
exercise, sunlight, sleep?
15:31Is your nutrition good?
15:32Although important, I'm not gonna bore you
15:33with that shit in this video.
15:35Second, there's stress.
15:36Now this could be financial
stress, relationship stress,
15:39living in insecurity, whatever.
15:42Koreans live under an
insane amount of stress.
15:45Third, there's social
isolation and loneliness.
15:48This one is particularly interesting
15:50because a lot of Korean social life seems
15:52to revolve around their
coworkers and their career.
15:55These sorts of social interactions
are very transactional.
15:58IE, you're not there
because you like your boss.
16:00You're there because he's your boss.
16:01This can foster a deep
sense of loneliness.
16:04Now, these first three,
16:05these are the same in the West as well.
16:08Americans are pretty fuckin'
unhealthy and stressed,
16:10and we too are undergoing
our own loneliness epidemic.
16:14But the next two factors strike me
16:15as particularly problematic in Korea.
16:20we've talked about the intense
socioeconomic pressures
16:24but we haven't talked about
another major influence
16:28an influence that goes
back over 2000 years.
16:32- If you want to understand
the culture here,
16:34you have to look at Confucianism.
16:36This is the most Confucian
society in the world.
16:38It's very much about the
group and how you appear.
16:42I think it's also why there's
a high suicide rate out here.
16:44I think if you fail in
front of your peers,
16:45there's not as much of a redemption arc,
16:48like we have in Western culture.
16:49People put a lot of
pressure on themselves-
16:51- to succeed, and I think also
16:53to appear like they're succeeding as well.
16:55- Like most East Asian countries,
16:57Korea's cultural values are Confucian.
16:59In Confucianism, there is no individual.
17:02Everything revolves around the family.
17:04The more you sacrifice for the family,
17:06the better person you are.
17:07The less you're willing
or able to sacrifice,
17:09the more you are shamed and judged.
17:11We could debate the pros and cons
17:13of Confucian values all video,
17:14but for now, all I'll say is
17:16that they have an unfortunate intersection
17:19In Confucian cultures,
mental health issues,
17:21such as depression or PTSD,
17:23they're not seen as a cause for empathy,
17:25but rather they're judged
as a failure of character.
17:28If you are so sad that
you cannot get out of bed,
17:30it means that you have failed to live up
17:32to your duties and
obligations to your family.
17:34IE, you're a lazy piece of shit.
17:36Not exactly a healthy attitude.
17:38This is why Korea has a
deceptively low diagnosis rate
17:41for stuff like anxiety or depression.
17:44People are so ashamed
that they never speak up
17:47It has taken prominent
people like Lee Seohyun
17:49and the Yang Brothers to speak out
17:51and try to change the culture.
17:53One study I saw estimated
that only 7% of Koreans
17:56with anxiety or depression sought help.
17:58Another study found
that only 2% of Koreans
18:00with alcoholism ever seek assistance.
18:03Instead, they just bury it further,
18:06which doesn't turn out well.
18:08The fourth factor is a lack of agency.
18:10A huge part of mental wellbeing
is that people feel a sense
18:13of autonomy and control in their lives.
18:15That they have the ability to choose
18:17how they're gonna use their time.
18:18Yet Korean work culture can stifle this.
18:21In Korea, you're not
supposed to leave work
18:23until your boss leaves, even
if you have nothing to do.
18:26You're not supposed to contradict anyone.
18:28You're not supposed to even speak
18:29to the higher ups in the company.
18:31If your boss wants to get
shit-faced on a Tuesday night,
18:33you have to go get shit-faced
on a Tuesday night.
18:36But if you fail to live
up to these expectations,
18:39that brings us to the
fifth and final factor.
18:43that you are somehow inherently
inferior or unworthy.
18:47As Westerners, we generally feel shame
18:49when something awful has happened to us,
18:51when we've experienced trauma
or we're abused or bullied.
18:54But Koreans live under an
immense burden of social
18:57and family expectation.
18:59They are judged constantly
19:01and harshly as part of
their Confucian values.
19:03The problem is, Koreans also
live under an immense pressure
19:07to perform as individuals.
19:09In a sad way, Korea seems
to have kept the worst parts
19:13of Confucianism, the shame and judgment,
19:15while also discarding the best part,
19:17the closeness with family and community.
19:19Meanwhile, they've adopted the
worst aspects of capitalism,
19:23the glitzy materialism and
striving for fuck you money,
19:26while ignoring the best parts of it,
19:27the capacity for self-expression
and individualism.
19:31Now, the combination of
these conflicting values,
19:33in my personal opinion,
19:34is probably what leads to
so much stress and despair.
19:38Yet, despite all this, Korea's
continued to surprise us
19:40with just incredible output
in both the arts and sciences.
19:44It's almost like the
mental health crisis here
19:46is the collateral damage of one
19:49of the most incredible success
stories in world history.
19:56As a Westerner who's very
much become integrated here,
20:00have you had any experiences
20:01around like mental health issues here?
20:03- Absolutely, I mean, I've had friends
20:07who've taken their lives out here.
20:09There's actually a
bridge on the Han River.
20:13It's a common occurrence.
20:14People jump off this specific bridge.
20:15So suicide is a real problem out here.
20:18I think also mental health as
a topic, is a bit stigmatized.
20:21The perception has changed a little bit.
20:24I think people talk about it more,
20:25but I don't think it's fixed.
20:27- I think it's very different
from the generation.
20:29The old generation is very,
20:32have prejudice about
mental health problem,
20:35and they don't want to talk about it.
20:37They think it's just, it's about attitude.
20:39Like if you get your shit together,
20:42you don't have to suffer from
like depression or anxiety.
20:46But my generation, younger
generation have more information
20:50and they talk about a lot.
20:52So I think there are a lot of difference
20:55from where you're from.
20:56- Do you think it's getting better?
20:59- Yeah, it's changing and I
think it's promising, yeah.
21:03Now, despite all the things
that we've been talking about,
21:05I fuckin' love Korea.
21:07I've loved my time here.
21:09It is such a cool and considerate
and conscientious culture.
21:12I love the way they moan
when you talk to them
21:15to show you that they're
listening really intently.
21:18- Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm.
- Hmm.
21:20- Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm.
- Mm, Mm.
21:21I love the foam that
they put on the car doors
21:23to make sure that they don't
dent the cars next to them.
21:26I love all the crazy
herbal drinks and coffees
21:30with English words that
make absolutely no sense.
21:35I love how they hand money back to you,
21:36like you just won the keys to the city.
21:41That is weird, tastes like
raisins and like basil.
21:45- [Crew Member] Do you feel like a CEO?
21:48I love the food, even though I don't know
21:51And to be honest, between the PC bangs,
21:53the fried chicken and the nightlife,
21:55I think if I came here in my twenties,
21:57I never would've left.
21:59I couldn't help but find myself
22:01constantly having fun in Korea.
22:03I held a reader meetup
where we ate fried chicken
22:06and drank beer and went to a dance party.
22:11The next night, my producer and I managed
22:13to get tickets to a championship game
22:15of the Korean Baseball League
where the home team won.
22:18Seoul baby, Seoul's number one.
22:22Everywhere we went, the
people were amazing,
22:24and the younger Koreans in particular,
22:26were surprisingly open
about their feelings
22:28and struggles within Korean culture.
22:32every Korean I told about
this video was excited
22:35that I was making it
22:36and anxious to tell me
about their experiences.
22:39They acknowledged that
it is a real problem
22:41in their society, and
they desperately hoped
22:43for some sort of solution.
22:45And I guess what I realized is
22:46that this was Korea's
superpower all along.
22:50It's not the incredible economic growth
22:53or the new-found pop culture dominance,
22:55but rather there's a resilience here
22:57that is rare and special in the world.
23:00Learning about their
culture and their history
23:02you realize the Koreans always find a way,
23:05whether it's surviving a
century of occupation and war
23:09or willing themselves to economic
23:11and cultural excellence in
the face of annihilation,
23:14they always find a way.
23:16Today, the country's
challenges have shifted.
23:19Koreans must look inward,
23:21away from the dangerous horizon
23:23and into the depths of
their inner horizon.
23:26It is a new problem set,
23:27a new existential challenge they face.
23:30But after my brief time here,
23:32I believe they will find a way.
23:36Do people around you, have
their opinions changed
23:38or are they still like,
think you're crazy?
23:41- I don't give a fuck.
23:46- I love it, I love it, yes.
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